A young man who fatally stabbed a Burnaby teen during a swarming attack in Whistler recently described the murder as being almost a religious experience for him, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The bizarre description was revealed for the first time in court as the Crown sought to have the accused, who was 17 at the time of the May 2015 attack on Luka Gordic, 19, and cannot be identified due to a publication ban, sentenced as an adult rather than as a youth.

Crown counsel Julie Robinson told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Terence Schultes that in a report filed in December, a psychiatrist said that the accused, one of four young men convicted in the attack, “very solemnly” described the moment when he looked at the victim.

“I recall looking at him in the eye,” the accused, who was convicted of second-degree murder, told the psychiatrist. “There was fear, and in an instant my life got brighter. Everything around me. Whoa, I’m on earth right now. I felt woke. That God just slapped me right in the face.

“Something super, powerful, gave me a punch right in the heart. An electric shock of clarity. I came back to earth that second he looked at me. We made eye contact — my knife was still in him.”

Robinson told the judge that there was much that could be said about the disturbing description of the taking of the life of Gordic.

“It must once again be noted that this is at complete odds with his trial testimony,” she said, noting that during the trial the accused had claimed that he remembered nothing about the key events. “However, he would now have this court believe that he essentially came to at the moment he stabbed Luka Gordic in the heart. (The accused) describes the moment of the murder almost like a religious experience, an encounter with God.”

Mitch and Clara Gordic comment during the sentencing hearing for the three youths convicted in the swarming death of their son Luka, at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Jan. 24.Nick Procaylo /
PNG

Members of the victim’s family reacted visibly, several of them leaving the courtroom as the accused’s quotes from the psychiatrist’s report were being read out by Robinson.

Earlier, the prosecutor argued that the circumstances of the case rebutted the presumption the accused is entitled to that as a youth he had a diminished capacity for moral judgments. She noted that at the time of the murder the accused was only a few weeks away from turning 18, the age at which the accused would be sentenced as an adult and face a stiffer sentence.

The factors that need to be considered in raising a youth to be sentenced as an adult include the age and maturity of the accused, the degree of participation in the crime, the harm done and any prior findings of guilt, said Robinson.

Although the accused did test quite low in some cognitive tests, there was no overarching concern about mental or cognitive impairment, she said.

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The accused struggled with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but that does not preclude the Crown from overcoming the presumption of diminished moral culpability, said Robinson.

The Crown said that the accused, who was born in Saudi Arabia and came to Canada with his family in 2008, began abusing drugs at a young age and became enmeshed in a criminal lifestyle, dropping out of school in the middle of Grade 10.

The accused’s admitted crimes began at the age of 13 when he started selling drugs and progressed to robberies of citizens and then other drug dealers, said Robinson.

He was involved in driveway shootings and even shot at someone, but no one was killed or wounded, and he used a number of weapons during his crimes, including batons, brass knuckles and baseball bats, she said. The accused’s lawyer is expected to give submissions at a later date.

Luka Gordic was 19 years old when he was swarmed and stabbed to death in Whistler village in May 2015.Files

If he is sentenced as a young offender, the accused will face a sentence not to exceed four years in custody, whereas if he is sentenced as an adult, he’ll receive a life sentence with no parole eligibility for seven years.

The Crown is seeking to have two other co-accused who were convicted of manslaughter also to be sentenced as adults. Arvin Golic, a fourth accused, was earlier sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter.

Gordic was swarmed and fatally attacked following a petty dispute between Golic and Gordic, with Golic recruiting a group of youths to find and confront the victim.

Outside court Wednesday, the parents of the victim were shocked at the stabber’s description of the attack.

“I never heard that before,” said Mitch Gordic, the victim’s father. “I just can’t believe there are people like that, that can do that kind of thing. A knife in Luka’s heart and he’s looking at him. It’s hard to believe.”

Said Clara Gordic, the victim’s mom: “I’m speechless. We’re just so devastated. I can’t believe what Luka was going through, it just kills me.”

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